Neighbourhoods

Munich's 25 Stadtbezirke, what each is like to live in, and what the name on the U-Bahn map tells you about rent. Schwabing, Haidhausen and Giesing are not interchangeable.

Open parkland in Munich's Haidhausen district — Photograph by Kritzolina, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Most visitors see three or four of Munich's districts and assume that is the city. Knowing which name is which saves money and a wasted afternoon: rents, restaurant prices and how touristy a street feels all track the district you are standing in.

Munich has 25 Stadtbezirke, and unlike Vienna's numbered spiral they go by name. The U-Bahn map is how most people learn them.

A residential street in central Munich — Photograph by Ricardalovesmonuments, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

The five a visitor actually walks into

Altstadt-Lehel is the old core — Marienplatz, the Residenz, the Hofbräuhaus, and the highest prices in the city. Maxvorstadt holds the universities and the museum quarter, so it has the Pinakotheken and, because of the students, the cheap food. Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt covers the Hauptbahnhof, the Theresienwiese where Oktoberfest happens, and the Glockenbachviertel. Schwabing-West and Schwabing-Freimann are the old bohemian quarter, now calm and expensive, wrapped around the Englischer Garten. Au-Haidhausen, across the Isar, is the one people compare to Paris.

And the other nineteen

Largely residential, and worth knowing mainly so a map makes sense: Sendling, Sendling-Westpark, Schwanthalerhöhe, Neuhausen-Nymphenburg (the palace), Moosach, Milbertshofen-Am Hart (BMW Welt), Bogenhausen, Berg am Laim, Trudering-Riem, Ramersdorf-Perlach, Obergiesing-Fasangarten, Untergiesing-Harlaching (the zoo), Thalkirchen-Obersendling-Forstenried-Fürstenried-Solln — the longest name in the city — Hadern, Pasing-Obermenzing, Aubing-Lochhausen-Langwied, Allach-Untermenzing, Feldmoching-Hasenbergl and Laim.

That is the full 25. The useful question is not which is best but which is a short ride from what you came for.

This section is being written. The guide above is the section for now. New articles are published across the site about twice a week rather than a section being filled in a day, so this page grows steadily — it is worth looking in again. In the meantime the sixteen sight pages and the plans by trip length are finished, and they are the best place to start.

Queued for this section

What is Schwabing like to live in?
What is Haidhausen like, and why is it compared to Paris?
What is Maxvorstadt, and what is the Kunstareal?
What is Giesing like, and why is it changing?

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